Baytop-Fitzhugh Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS 00111

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The inventory includes letters, 1851-1861, and accounts, 1840-1866, of Rufus King Fitzhugh and his wife Henrietta Ellen (Baytop) Fitzhugh of Stanardsville, Greene County, Virginia. Most letters to Henrietta are from her mother Lucy Taliaferro (Catlett) Baytop, and her sisters Rowena, Lucy Ann, and Eugenia, all of Springfield, Gloucester County, Virginia. The collection also includes letters from her sister-in-law Mary F. Fitzhugh of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The letters relate various aspects of nineteenth century farm life, such as men and women's separate responsibilities on the farm, illnesses and treatments, childbirth and its complications, and social activities. There are comments on slaves, tensions between the slave states and the federal government and the abolitionists, and the eventual Civil War. Letters to Rufus King Fitzhugh are generally from business associates or his brother George Fitzhugh, of Port Royal, Virginia. Both his letters and business accounts offer insight into his affairs, such as land speculation, mining for coal, slaves as investments, as well as deeds, receipts of purchase and payment of property, and tax receipts. An undated item records his property in Jackson County, Arkansas, that was destroyed by the Union Army.

Dates

1840-1866

Creator

Baytop, Lucy Taliaferro Catlett (Person)

Conditions Governing Access:

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Conditions Governing Use:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.